[wannabe1]

Type exit and press "Enter".

Boot back to the cd. When you get to the "Welcome to Setup" screen, press "Enter".

To accept the agreement, press F8.

Let me know what you see on the next screen. I'd like to see something similar to this:


Now try this one...

[Advertisements]

Okay, on the blue screen, here's what we have for partitions.

57232 MB disk 0 at Id 0 on bus ) on atapi [MBR]

-: Partition1 [FAT] 7 1 MB <62MB free>
C: Partition 2 [unknown] 53529 MB >53529 MB free>
E: Partition 3 [FAT32] 3624 MB<588 MB free>
Unpartitioned space 8 MB

[Pluto56]

Okay, on the blue screen, here's what we have for partitions.

57232 MB disk 0 at Id 0 on bus ) on atapi [MBR]

-: Partition1 [FAT] 7 1 MB <62MB free>
C: Partition 2 [unknown] 53529 MB >53529 MB free>
E: Partition 3 [FAT32] 3624 MB<588 MB free>
Unpartitioned space 8 MB

[wannabe1]

These will each present a new screen....

Select the C partition and press "Enter".

If the numbers in the bottom two lines match, press "Enter".

Make sure the C: partition is selected and press "Enter".

Use the NTFS Format option...not the quick one...and press "Enter".

Let me know when the format completes...or if it fails.

[Pluto56]

In progress.

[wannabe1]

You will likely be asked for your product key. Do you have it handy? It should be on a sticker on the machine should you need it.

[Pluto56]

It started to format, and is now stuck on 0% progress. Hasn't done a thing.
Does it take a while to show progress, or is this thing toast?

[wannabe1]

It sometimes takes a while to show progress.

I do think it's toast, though...but let's give it a little time to make sure it wasn't the file system that went bad and the HDD is ok.

[Pluto56]

Thought maybe it would take some time, I've seen other things do that, show nothing, then bam, they're done.
Yeah, I'm thinking toast too.

[wannabe1]

Yup...I think so, too. We sure gave it a good look, though.

When you say it's a year old...is it just over a year old? Or can you get a warranty replacement?

[Pluto56]

It will be 1 year old on December 6th, I looked it up the other day. I had a 1 year limited warranty. I've emailed Dell customer service and only got an automated response. I have a hearing problem so it's hard to talk to someone on the phone, especially since they all have foreign accents.
I'll try email again, tell them what we've done here with your permission, perhaps send a link to this thread to them.
I'm sure they either won't answer, or wait until warranty has expired to answer, leave me hanging out there. Negative eh?? lol

[Pluto56]

I'll let this thing try to format for a while longer. I'll post if anything happens.

[wannabe1]

Hey...it's sure worth a try.

Please do include a link to this topic so they can see the failure from start to finish. It's pretty well documented from the initial symptom to the catastrophic failure. It might help them make a positive determination.

And the date it failed is pretty easy to see...

[Pluto56]

Thanks Wannabe1. I do sincerely appreciate your help, and using up your afternoon on this. You guys at G2G are great. We gave it the old college try anyway.

[wannabe1]

My pleasure...

Good luck with the replacement.

[Pluto56]

Wannabe1........... just wanted to say thank you again, and guess what? I've been in an online chat with a Dell tech, had me run the Dell diagnostics again, and this one showed a massive failure. The short version of all of it is, they're sending me a new hard drive and support media, free of charge. I guess a warranty means something after all. I really thought I'd get the run around since the warranty expires in 13 days, I was wrong.
I know Dell has been criticized in the past for different things, but I own 2 of them, and I am very happy with Dell. I'm on my desktop puter, and it has never let me down, it's a warthog for sure.
Again thanks for your assistance, and peace be with you brother!